Browsed byAuthor: Luke Garrison

I’m officially leaving the Republican Party. Or rather, as cliché as it sounds, they’ve officially left me. The reason is pretty straight forward: they’ve finally stopped pretending to care about conservative principles and values. The once-great party of Reagan has completely abandoned the principles upon which it used to stand. The nomination of Donald Trump, a vulgar and know-nothing Leftist, nearly pushed me out fully and forced me to abstain from voting for either major-party presidential candidate for the first time in my life. I’ve been willing to vote for non-ideal Republican candidates because I was convinced that even the worst Republican is better than a Democrat. Maybe that used to be true. However, this week’s Budget Bill is the straw that broke this camel’s back. I used to think that while we knew Trump wasn’t really Republican, the now Republican-dominated Congress would surely be able to accomplish what they were elected to do. Any hope that I had was shattered with the passing of the Budget Bill that would make Barack Obama proud.

SO. Let’s just briefly talk through what Hillary Clinton’s Donald Trump’s $1.1 Trillion budget plan does and does not do. It DOES keep funding for: Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, the Iran Deal, the EPA, the NEA, every other alphabet agency, and Sanctuary Cities. It DOES NOT fund: The Great Wall of Trump we’ve been hearing about every day for the last two years (In case you haven’t been paying attention: First, Mexico would be paying for it. Then, taxpayers would be paying for it. Now, no one is paying for it). BUT AT LEAST WE RAISED MILITARY SPENDING RIGHT?!?! MAGA!!!!

Yes, it’s a complete surrender to the Left, yet the Republicans are celebrating a yuuuuge victory because they were able to slightly increase the military budget. This is completely par for the course.

Cowardly Republicans have caved yet again. They told the American people that in order to defund all those things they just agreed to keep funding they needed the House, so we gave you a House majority. They told the American people that to get good things done they needed the Senate, so we gave you a Senate majority. Finally, they told the American people that they needed a Republican president, so the American people gave you a “republican” president. There is nothing left for us to give you, and you are still too spineless to actually fulfill the promises you ran upon. Why should we continue to show this useless party allegiance?

Big Government is becoming more and more the desire of many Americans as millennials come of age. Why handle anything on your own if daddy-government will handle it for you? When everything you want is a right, you’re happy to surrender your freedom for the sake of those “rights.” In the past, Republican response to the dangerous and slippery slope to tyranny that is Big Government was a Ronald Reagan presidency. Now, the Republican response to Big Government is…more Big Government. Genuinely I ask, why does this party still exist?

As I said at the time of the election: I understood voting for Trump because anything was better than Hillary and the destructive ideology of Leftism that she brought with her. Unfortunately, as was the case at the time, many on the right become willfully ignorant or hold their tongues regarding the abominations that hold office for “their” party all for the sake of not letting “the other guys” win. This has allowed Trump and his cronies to completely take over the formerly dominant small-government ideologies in exchange for Trumpism, which shall not be questioned.

You’ll hear on the news that there is “much infighting” in the Republican Party. This is because the actual Conservatives, who stand for the principles that used to matter, are now openly waging war against the Trumpian/Nationalist/Populist movement that has become the mainstream of the party. Again I’ll ask: Why continue to vote for a party that represents nothing? Why do we continue to put power into the hands of incompetents who will do nothing? Because they’re less-statist than the Democrats? Sorry. That just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.

Neither mainstream party represents this country’s founding values, and the obvious response to that seems to be the introduction of a legitimate third party. I can’t be alone in the desire for a major party that actually defends the Constitution. A party that keeps the very small government away from the free market. A party that believes in individual justice over social justice. A party that stands for low taxation for all. A party that wants to severely roll-back welfare programs and re-incentivize hard work. A party that fights for Second Amendment rights. A party that believes that the government has no authority to control what free individuals do with their bodies. A party that understands that a strong foreign policy is important to keep us safe. A party that understands that we need to control our borders and limit immigration for the sake of our physical and economic security.

The party that comes the closest to all this is the Libertarian Party, and it’s there that I’ll be making my home. The next question that arises when talking about third parties is why they never gain much support. This is rooted in a system that encourages people to follow parties rather than principles. Many Republicans and Democrats are fed up with their own party, but aren’t willing to defect. They are met with resistance from the group they are trying to escape, and are usually convinced that the “other side” will win without all the votes. This idea only furthers the problem. If everyone who hates being “forced” to vote Republican or Democrat jumped ship, I find it hard to believe that additional parties wouldn’t stand a chance.

Now, none of this is to say that I’ll never vote Republican again or agree with some things done by the Republican Party. There are some lines of thought still in there with which I agree. However, I am finished linking myself to that group of useless, spineless cowards. If we ever want to have a hope of returning to our founding principles and values, those few of us left are going to have to shake up the system by doing something completely radical: convincing Conservatives to have principles.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last three months, let me fill you in briefly as to what’s been happening. With the exception of the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, the actions of the Trump Administration have been a mixture of good, bad, and seemingly good but actually bad. My greatest concerns entering this new regime are beginning to come to fruition: Trumpism, whatever it means each day, is beginning to replace the formerly dominant conservatism or libertarianism of the Republican Party. With only the strongest surviving, many of our “principles first” heroes have fallen victim to Trumpism. They will go along with any and everything that Donald Trump says, for fear of losing their positions of good graces with the King. The nationalist, populist, mercantilist, isolationist, and/or borderline Leftist movement that is Trumpism now has control of the House, Senate, and Presidency.

Back in October 2016, I wrote the following:

“My biggest issues with this entire election cycle is not with Trump. We knew who he was going in. My issue is with conservatives who are changing their own fundamental belief systems in order to fit Trump’s mold. From my peers, to Breitbart News, up to Sean Hannity, people are claiming they believe in, and have always believed in, things they were vehemently against before Trump showed up. These are the same people who are perpetuating the delusion that Trump is only losing because of people like me who will not ‘bend the knee.”

The solution during the election was not to lie about Trump being conservative, and it’s even more important that this is not the solution now that he’s President. As I said at the time, if you thought you were faced with a binary choice and Trump was a better option than Hillary, or that you were voting for a Supreme Court Justice, I understand your reasoning. However, it is now unacceptable to just sit back and let the principle of small government die because we don’t want to stand up to Trump. Paul Ryan needs to do his job, and should be able to without fear of the consequences of making his master angry. The time for holding our noses and letting Trump be Trumpy in the name of stopping Hillary Clinton is over. He already won the election, now it’s time to demand that he stick to the promises and “principles” he ran and won upon.

Of course, history proved me wrong about my prediction that he wouldn’t win, and I am still glad that I was wrong in this case. I honestly wish I would be proved wrong about Trump more often. I’ve long held that Trump doesn’t truly believe in anything. As should be obvious from his actions of the last few months, he is greatly concerned with his ego. During the campaign, he would say anything that he believed would get him elected. Now, he is torn between fulfilling his campaign promises and doing popular things. Nothing demonstrates this internal struggle with more clarity than last week’s American Health Care Act debacle.

The entire world has talked about this bill ad nauseam, so I don’t feel the need to go into its specifics. I’ll just say that the single biggest issue is the retention of the “Pre-existing Conditions Mandate.” Insurance Companies are businesses. Businesses are started to make profits. Insurance companies make their profits on the gamble that you won’t need their help. How can an insurance company make money if there is a 100% chance that they will be needed? A basic understanding of economics tells you the answer is skyrocketing premiums. They used to make their money off charging a low monthly premium to all of the young people who probably wouldn’t need anything, and used that money, in conjunction with the higher premiums based on risk-factors, to maintain a profit margin even after helping their clients who need the most assistance. When the government forces insurances companies to take on already very sick people, thereby removing the gamble, the obvious result should be that prices skyrocket, which leads to the young people canceling their plans and gambling on themselves to not get sick, then paying out of pocket for anything that does happen. This leads to even higher premiums because the insurance companies have less people enrolled. Would you expect to be able to buy low-price fire insurance for your house after it has already burned down?

So, why would the “Republicans” keep these provably damning facets of Obamacare in their definitely not Obamacare bill? This is what happens when your party is being led by a leftist: he uses leftist metrics to gauge the success of leftist goals. One of the first sure-fire signs of this bill’s failure was the very clear difference in goals of Trump and Paul Ryan. Trump’s metric was the same as Obama’s: How many people will be covered? Ryan, a staunch conservative until about three months ago, had the goal of lowering premiums and getting government out of the business as much as possible. Those two visions are not compatible, and the result was the half-assed, disastrous pile of horse manure that we called TrumpcareRyancareRINOCareObamacare2.0ObamacareLiteObamacare The American Health Care Act.

So, what happens now? Trump has been very inconsistent on pretty much everything for the past year and a half, especially on his political philosophy. The only idea that remains the same is Trump’s desire to be well-liked. This makes the least sense to me of any of the Trumpian philosophies because the reality is that he has never been well-liked according to polling, and especially isn’t right now (currently, he sits between 36-44% approval rating based on which polls you are quoting). The Right wants to love Trump, even as he spits in the face of their values. The Left will never approve of him, even when he does a lot of what they want. As I’ve said before, he utilizes a language very similar to that of Bernie Sanders, especially when he talks about trade.

Based on the news coverage of the last few days, it appears Trump is giving up on working with those on the right who won’t cooperate, and is planning on shifting his aim to those on the moderate left. This is stupid. There is simply no way that any elected Democrat would be able to return to their constituents, who all hate Trump (he has about an 8% approval rate amongst Democrats), and say that they worked with and yielded to him on anything. The Left is never going to support Trump, this should be obvious by what seems to be an eternal state of hair-on-fire over every single move Trump makes.

What would be the much smarter political move, and one that I hope Paul Ryan, Reince Preibus, and his other cabinet members are encouraging him to do, would be to unite those on the right who really do want him to succeed, so he can actually push through some successful legislation. Even the fiercest #NeverTrump-er is happy when they are proven wrong about Trump. I, for example, was ready to buy a MAGA hat after Gorsuch’s selection. I love what he’s doing as far as scaling back the power of the executive branch, I love his cutting overreaching regulations, I love the slashing of programs, I love his immigration policies (when he actually commits to them/roles them out properly), and I love a majority of his cabinet picks. None of this changes the plethora of big government tendencies that exist in this administration. However, it is important to look at which moves by Trump are popular not only among his base, but by those who didn’t support him in the election.

There is a choice coming for the Trump Administration. They are going to have to choose whether they are going to reach out to Rand Paul and the Freedom Caucus, or if they’re going to try their luck with Chuck Schumer and company. As I’ve said, I think there’s a snowballs chance in hell that any decent number of Democrats give Trump even an inch, but I don’t think that will stop him from trying. He has a bit of a history of doing the wrong thing.

Trump tweeted Thursday morning that he plans on fighting both the Freedom Caucus and the Democrats. This is beyond idiotic for several reasons. Many members of the Caucus were huge Trump supporters in the election. He could have negotiated with them for more than a week and reached a compromise. It is also infuriating and predictable that he attacks those who stand firm on their principle. As we said, he’s pretty much a Leftist, and there’s no tolerance for principle on the Left. From a practical stand-point, this is an idiotic political move. If he won’t play ball with the Freedom Caucus AND the Democrats, he his left with 216 votes in the House, and he needs 218 to get anything accomplished.

If Trump can stay consistent in small-government principles, relying on the promises and ideologies upon which he got elected, he will be able to find a common ground with the dominant federal party. If he continues to let his pride get in the way, refusing to compromise with those farther right than he is, he won’t only cost us the presidency in 2020, but he will destroy the small scrap of hope that we can return to the founding principles of small government and personal responsibility. If we really want to Make America Great Again, we cannot abandon the ideals that made it great in the first place.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke, follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”- Dwight Eisenhower

On Monday night, Michael Flynn resigned from his position as Trump’s National Security Advisor after 24 days on the job. This was preceded by more leaks that Flynn had “questionable” contact with a Russian Ambassador, and allegedly lied to Vice President Pence about this contact. This adds yet another blemish to this new administration, and certainly does not ease the concern about Trump’s favorability towards Russia. Some are calling his departure a “resignation” and some a “firing,” but here is the truth: Flynn was Assassinated by the Deep State.

The Deep State, also known as the “shadow government,” is the term used to describe the not-so-secret group of bureaucrats in public and private institutions, including national security and law enforcement agencies, that are unelected, yet are entrenched and hold a great deal of dangerous power. They use their security clearances to leak classified information, usually anonymously, to the salivating mainstream media who will run with any story that feeds their narrative without looking back. Many of these bureaucrats are leftovers from the Obama administration, and, at the risk of sounding like a Conspiracy Theorist at Breitbart or InfoWars, it would appear that they are going to use their power to blackmail Trump. Trump went after the Intelligence Community during and after the election, and now they are getting their revenge.

Just a bit of background on the Flynn situation: The story has, to what should be no one’s surprise at this point, spiraled slightly out of control. On December 29th, Flynn spoke on the phone with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, discussed the sanctions put in by Obama, and then denied that this occurred. The message from the Trump team is that Flynn was only let go for lying to Pence, and that his actions with Russia were just part of his job. The message from the media is that Flynn is modern-day Benedict Arnold and needs to be hanged. As usual, it appears the truth is somewhere in between the two narratives. What we know for sure is that three people from the Trump team are being investigated by the FBI for their alleged ties to Russia during/after the campaign: Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and Roger Stone. Notice a name that’s not there. FBI Director James Comey decided around January 16th that there was not enough evidence surrounding Flynn to warrant an investigation. While it is clear that Flynn did have some interactions with Russians that don’t look good for him or Trump, nothing he did appears to be illegal, and anything else being thrown around appears to be speculation. No, he didn’t commit Treason. No, there is no violation of the Logan Act (which all of a sudden people care about again). The over-the-top coverage on this by the mainstream media is mainly devoid of facts and is playing on the Left’s eagerness to see Trump fail.

All that being said, something about this does not add up. In an administration that is clearly not too concerned with telling the truth (see “Alternative Facts,” or the bright, sun-shiney day when Trump was sworn in as President in front of the largest inaugural crowd in history, or Trump’s insistence that over 3 million illegal votes were cast in the election that he won), why would Flynn lying to Pence be enough to get him fired? It isn’t. Trump is caving to the pressure from the bureaucrats. It turns out, the swamp does not want to be drained.

The Intelligence Community has repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to use classified information against someone they don’t find favorable. The FBI and NSA, using their authority from Executive order 12333 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, were monitoring correspondences between the Russian Ambassador and Flynn. There is a plethora of laws that dictate how this information is to be used and distributed, especially if there is a “U.S. Person” involved. If there are concerning legal matters, they are to be brought before the Director, and ultimately Congress. Leaking non-criminal private conversations is not only illegal, but it gives the Deep State the power to destroy their opponents from a façade of anonymity.

This should be seen from all sides as inherently bad, and there is plenty of hypocrisy from the Left and the Right on this issue. The same people who were outraged about James Comey’s behavior during the election, are overjoyed about this, and the people who celebrated Hillary’s woes think that Flynn’s whistle blowers should be hanged for treason. Actions don’t change legality or morality because they’re done “for your team.” This is also not the first example of leaking to hurt the Trump team. Did you ever think to wonder how it is that the media finds out what is said on Trump’s phone calls to foreign leaders? Or how we know who in the administration was denied or granted security clearances? Whether or not you want to see Trump fail, you need to be intellectually honest. When it becomes acceptable for the Intelligence Community to be waging their own wars against the current administration, or influencing elections, a “police state” is not out of the question. There are examples of this throughout history, and even in modern-day Russia. If they can take down the most powerful in our country, what do you think will happen if they set their sights on the general public?

The Deep State would not have as much influence if not for its most powerful allies: The Mainstream Media and the side of the political aisle that lost, which right now is the Left. As I said earlier, the media coverage of this has been disgraceful. This “scandal” has, just this week, has been treated like the worst event that has ever happened in the history of America, and has been compared to a “Class 5 Political Hurricane,” Iran-Contra, Watergate, 9/11, and Pearl Harbor by the likes of CNN and the New York Times. We have no idea what is going on. Should we maybe wait for some more facts? The media are lighting themselves on fire and jumping off the cliff over everything that is happening in the Trump White House. They are so eager to see him fail that they are stating reports that are impossible to prove as fact.

The members of the media are chumming the water for their base, the political Left. The Left has gone back and forth between all the stages of grief every day since November 8th. Twitter and Facebook are filled with talk of Trump Impeachment Parties, ways that Hillary or Bernie can still be elected, Trump/Hitler comparisons, and the aforementioned flammable reaction to all news Trumpian. The media is purposefully adding fuel because they know their stories will sell. We are seeing a collaboration between the media and the Intelligence Community to take down an elected administration, of which neither are very fond. I really hate that I even need to make these comparisons, but this is only a few paces away from Stain’s Purges, Mao’s Red Guard, or Mussolini’s Blackshirts. These tyrants utilized secret agencies, as well as propagandized through their media, to take out the “undesirables” in their country and/or government. Throughout the election, and now, the Left keeps referring to Trump and his team as fascists. If secret groups within the government, in concert with the media, are taking out the people they don’t like…this might actually be a reasonable time to sound that alarm.

Once again, it doesn’t matter whether you love or hate Trump. We all should be able to rally behind the idea that it is not a good thing for these D.C bureaucrats to have the amount of control that they have. The Left is already faced with a president who has all the overreaching powers that they were so happy to give Obama because he was on their side. Do you really think this pendulum won’t also swing back? Allowing power to go unchecked, especially at the federal level, is a very dangerous game. If you think that the Deep State is finished, you better buckle up. They’ve tasted a small victory, and now won’t stop until they have their Grand Prize: Trump’s Impeachment.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke, follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

This week marks the 44th anniversary of the worst Supreme Court decision since Plessy vs Ferguson, Roe vs Wade. 7 of the 9 unelected human beings on the Court ruled that it is a Constitutional Right for a mother to kill her child, depending on location. One of the most consistently well-attended, and greatly ignored yearly protests, The March for Life, is set for this Friday in D.C.. President Trump re-signed into law Reagan’s policy of not providing federal funds to any international organization that kills babies, Paul Ryan is leading the charge to defund Planned Parenthood, and we’ve been promised a pro-life Supreme Court Justice. All signs so far point to this administration being very against killing babies, and one of the most sure-fire ways to watch the Left lose their minds is to get in their way of killing babies.

So why is it that those on the Left advocate so strongly for the “right” to kill babies? If you ask them, they’ll give you a plethora of meaningless answers including, but not limited to: “It’s no one’s business what I do with my body,” “It’s not murder because it’s just a bundle of cells that needs me to survive,” “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries,” “People will still do it whether it’s legal or not,” and the ultimate “Women’s Rights are Human Rights.” Let’s take a look at some of these arguments.

Probably the loudest thing you’ve seen on your social media, or on the news from the “Woman’s March,” is TRUMP/MEN/OTHER PEOPLE DON’T GET TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY BODY. They’re, of course, correct. As I’m fond of saying, nobody cares what other people do with their private lives. Those who are pro-life tend to lean to the Conservative side. They are not supportive of the government being all up in your business. So, let me say it very clearly for those in the back: I do not care what you do with your body. Not one bit. Live your life. I do care, however, what you do to the body inside your body. The Atlantic recently released a pro-abortion piece called “How the UltraSound Pushed the Idea that the Fetus is a Person.” This was in the same section as “How the Telescope Propagandized that There are Other Planets” and “How the X-Ray Made People Think that Bones Break.” The actual science deniers strike again. Contrary to the alternative facts used to justify the killing, there is a human being present inside every pregnant woman. You may not care, but your attempts to say there isn’t one are provably untrue. It’s literally science.

This brings us to the “Bundle of Cells” argument. Those who perpetuate this are either ignorant or liars. First off, I’m just a bundle of cells, you reading this are just a bundle of cells, and my daughter was a bundle of cells from the moment of her conception until this moment right now when I wish she was a sleeping bundle of cells. The particular number of cells in the bundle does not affect the humanity of said bundle. Location also doesn’t determine the humanity of a Bundle of Cells. Everyone agrees (for now) that once a baby is born, you shouldn’t be allowed to murder them. What is the difference in humanity between that moment, and the moment before when the child was still inside the mother? I wasn’t aware that vaginas magically bestow humanity.

Another popular argument is that women should be able to kill babies because those parasitic bundles of cells are dependent on them for survival. For those who don’t know this, the umbilical cord is still attached after the magical birth canal bestows rights on the baby. It appears we have reached an impasse. The location has changed, the baby is out, yet the bundle of cells is STILL anatomically attached. What do we do?! Your children are going to be living off your body in one way or another for at least 18 years (30 years if they major in Gender and Diversity Studies). So, does dependency take humanity away? If so, does a baby who is born, but requires life-support, not have a right to life? Can I suck out my father’s brains once he becomes too old and senile to live on his own? Get back to me, time is of the essence with this one.

We’re now going to play a small game called “When can we kill this baby?” using knowledge from a decade-old high school Child Development textbook. You can’t legally kill the human person once they’re born. Some pro-choicers, who aren’t completely murderous, believe that there should be a cut-off date. So Let’s Play! Months 7-9: The baby could survive outside the womb and utilizes 4 of the 5 senses. Ok to kill? Months 5-6: The baby is practicing their breathing with amniotic fluid, reflexively grasps the umbilical cord, and the mother and father can both feel very active movement. Ok to kill? Month 4 (this is the earliest the term “late term abortion” is used): Baby recognizes their mother’s voice, and their brains are capable of REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Ok to kill? Week 12: Baby has all the nerves to experience pain, has vocal chords, and sucks their thumb. Ok to kill? Week 8: All organs are in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and the baby can hear. Ok to kill? Week 6: Brainwaves detected, mouth and nose distinguished. Ok to kill? Day 22: The baby’s heart is beating the baby’s blood, which is often different than the mother’s blood type. Ok to kill? Most of us agree it is bad to kill innocent humans. You tell me where the humanity begins. If you cannot say with any certainty when is the precise moment that Bundle of Cells magically turns into a person with inalienable rights, then the only option is to err on the side of preserving those rights.

Speaking of people who care about humanity, there is a lie promulgated by the pro-abortion crowd that all pro-lifers (and Conservatives in general) are just crazy religious folk that wish to impose a theocracy, and force their religious convictions upon all citizens. This is the “Rosaries off My Ovaries” shtick. Let me make something clear: Abortion is not a religious issue. It is a Human Rights issue. The Bible also condemns theft. Should that be legal because most major religions are against it? There are things that are right and things that are wrong no matter how you were raised, what you do on Sunday mornings, or who/what you worship. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to lump killing a child into that category.

Now that we’ve established that people are people and you don’t get to frivolously kill them, how do we feel about the “people are still going to have abortions even if you evil men outlaw it” argument? I don’t feel that I need to get into this too much. As is the case with every law, outlawing abortion would not completely elimate the practice, but it would significantly reduce the amount of it, as well as send a clear message that this is an unacceptable act. Evil actions should not be permitted in any society.

If you want to make certain decisions with your life, again, have a fun time. There is, unfortunately this thing called reality that the Left hates so much. I don’t know how to break this to you, but there are consequences for your actions and YOU have to deal with them, not the government. Take responsibility for yourself. Be a grown up. You have a right to make dumb decisions with your body, you do not have the right to have Daddy Government help you deal with the repercussions.

So, what did we learn today? Unborn babies are human beings. It is wrong to kill innocent human beings. The right to life is a founding principle of this country. All the time. No situation or circumstance makes it acceptable to kill innocent human beings. I find it deeply hypocritical that those who are so concerned about their perceived “rights” are willing to overlook actual rights. Namely, the right to be alive. Those who push the pro-abortion agenda are either ignorant to these facts, or are aware of them, and simply don’t care. In this era where any information you seek is a click away, which is worse? I’ll let you make that choice.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke, follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

As we have seen in the majority of recent political discourse, the Left loves to name call. The Left knows that they can’t win any policy arguments, so they attack your character or just shout their feelings really loudly in an attempt to derail the argument. This is especially true now that a reality TV star defeated their candidate. Throughout the years, depending on the events, their favorite meaningless buzzwords change. During the Obama regime, the word “racist” was king. Everything and everyone who wasn’t all-in Left was racist, didn’t you know? I think that one of the reasons there has been so much delicious Liberal outrage is not only Hillary’s glorious defeat, but knowing that they’ll have to put “sexist” on the back burner until next time, and think of a new insult to hurl at those who dare oppose them. Their anger has set their hair on fire, and they can’t think of anything original, so they’re recycling “fascist” from the Bush years. Trump is a fascist, Trump’s cabinet picks are fascists, Trump’s voters are fascists, and even if you didn’t vote for Trump, you’re a fascist for supporting anything he does. As is the case with all the words the Left has overused to the point of meaninglessness, the narrative runs something like: “Yes, we know we’ve called everyone we don’t like racist/sexist/bigot/fascist, but we REALLY mean it this time.” So, it’s time to talk about what Fascism is, as well as why the Left has both no idea what they’re talking about, and the genuine hypocrisy that is the Left saying the word “fascist” if they’re not looking in a mirror.

It is difficult not to outwardly laugh at the Leftists who call Donald Trump and his Cabinet appointees fascists after we watched them mourn the death of Fidel Castro. The same people who weep about how terrible Donald Trump is, and shriek all the terrible things he is going to do that violate human rights, talk about what an effective leader Fidel Castro was. Yes. Really. This isn’t just the Left of the Unites States, by the way. From Obama talking about “the countless ways Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, and families, of the Cuban Nation,” Jimmy Carter saying that he only remembers his visits with Fidel in Cuba fondly and Castro’s “love for his country,” to the Prime Minister of Canada, to the Palestinian Dictator, to Vladimir Putin, to Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping, Leftists all over the world wept that one of their own had fallen.

To set the record straight: Fidel Castro destroyed Cuba’s flourishing economy, teamed up with Che Guevara, another mass murdering fellow who is glorified by the Left (you’ve seen him on T-shirts. I promise), he arrested and executed thousands of dissenters including anyone who tried to escape the hell-hole, and he begged the Soviet Union to attack the United States during the 1960’s Cuban Missile Crisis. A quick note about the amazing Cuban Healthcare system you’re probably hearing about: it’s all a lie. There are three tiers of Cuban Healthcare. The bottom tier of the healthcare system, which the majority of Cubans citizens qualify for, is so terrible and poor that when you go to the hospital you need to provide your own sheets, toilet paper, and light bulbs for the room. Doctors reuse latex gloves. As for their “legendary” low infant mortality rate, they have an astronomically high abortion rate because they murder any child who shows even the slightest issue in-utero. Their system only works for those in the top two tiers: the Cuban elites, and wealthy foreigners like Michael Moore. Regardless of these facts, you’ll hear Bernie Sanders and company referencing Cuba as a role model for the United States.

Why would anyone have anything nice to say about Fidel Castro? The reason is actually quite simple: The Left does not care about evil acts committed as long as they are in the name of the Leftist agenda. Moral Relativism runs rampant in the Leftist mind. You can be a mass murdering dictator, but if you are seeking the same collectivist utopia that the Left seeks, they can look past it. The Left’s entire ideology is centered around the idea of equality of outcome, rather than equality of opportunity. The rights of individuals impede the “greater good” of the state. This is in part because to the Left, rights are endowed by the State, so the State can give and take-away individual rights based upon whatever they want to do that day. This is one of the many reasons that every fascist, socialist, and communist regime has been so successful throughout history… or am I getting that confused?

Let’s look at Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of what this word actually means: “Fascism-a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” Now let’s see…race over individual…centralized autocratic government…economic and social regimentation…suppression of opposition… Does this sound like anyone we know? Refer back to my piece on the Left hating free speech.

With that definition in mind, why is it generally accepted that the Republicans are the fascists? The Left holds on to only two areas of fascism, and runs with them: nationalistic pride, and the general tendency of those on the right be religious. They create this certifiably false claim that all Republicans are trying to impose their religion onto the whole country. Side note: they also ignore the fact that while we do have Freedom of Religion in this country, Judeo-Christian values greatly influenced the founding documents of this country, as well as the Laws of any successful country in history. To say otherwise is willfully ignorant.

The Left equates nationalistic pride with ethnic pride, specifically, white supremacy. This comes from an understanding of History. In the past, the reason nationalistic pride and ethnic pride have been linked is because the people of many other countries in the world have a set race. For the most part, Ethiopians are black, Germans are White, Chinese are Asian, Mexicans are Hispanic. So when Hitler talked about German supremacy, he literally meant killing all those who weren’t Aryan. The idea that Trump is “literally Hitler” because he wants to “Make America Great Again” and is “America First” is ridiculous. America has no set race. Americans are people of every color. The faction of Trump supporters that are white supremacists is a small percentage, but the media disproportionately reports on them because it feeds their narrative and, more importantly, makes them a lot of money.

While Trump is certainly not a Fascist in the way the Left believes, there are some things we should be worried about and, no, they’re not his tweets. Everyone is very excited about Trump “saving jobs” with his Carrier deal. While you’re excited that Trump did a good thing, and on the surface this seems like an inherent good, you need to think with a clear head. As I’ve said before, Trump does not stand for small government. Trump saved between 800-1000 jobs by bullying Carrier with the threat of imposed tariffs. In other words, the government said to a business “Do what I want or I will ruin you.” This is the same crony capitalism that Trump was so against during his campaign. Just because we are getting what we want in more jobs, does not mean that the principle changes. If you were pro-Free Trade during Obama’s presidency, and now have switched to being pro-Protectionism simply because that’s what Donald Trump says we should do, you just might be the problem.

This is my biggest problem with the Trump election. Our principles don’t change just because “our guy” won the White House. Worship principles not people. Setting aside that the federal government has no Constitutional authority to dictate the behavior of a private business, this move does not encourage a free market. The solution to companies trying to outsource their businesses is not to punish them, it is to fix the reasons they want to leave. It is wrong for the government to tell a business that they must bake someone a cake, and it is wrong for the government to tell a business they must operate in a certain sector. We must be consistent. We all need to keep an eye on Trump’s economic policies and ideologies, and call him out when he does something bad, because we know we won’t hear anything about these types of things from the media. As we’ve discussed, the Left is willing to allow the branches of fascism that violate basic human rights, if everything is fair economically. It is also becoming obvious that we won’t be able to rely on Republicans to call Trump out on something they would have scolded Obama for doing.

The Left uses intimidation or physical violence to block any viewpoint not in line with their policies of thought policing, “settled science,” and inevitable economic ruin. They are trying to establish the Orwellian Thought Police, and lock up all of us intolerant Conservatives who dare to propose another line of thought. The fact that Leftists call any non-Leftist a fascist is borderline satirical. I hope they keep this nonsense up, as we all should, because this will almost guarantee more Conservative victories, and Lefty tears, in 2018 and 2020. The Republican Party isn’t perfect by any means, and we need to hold their feet to the fire, but as we’ve seen this year, imperfection Trumps fascism.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke: Subscribe, using the mail icon, and follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

Donald Trump has proven me wrong every step of the way. I did not think he would win the primaries, and I certainly didn’t think he would win the election. Even though he was the lesser of two evils, I could not vote for him because he is truly evil. That didn’t change because he won the election. Rather than list all my reasons I could not vote for nor support Trump, I will direct you tomy first piece. In their latest disservice to America, the Left has made everyone forget all the bad things about Trump. I’ll only speak for myself, but so far my happiness about a Hillary loss, and everyone on the Left entering a dark place of despair where there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth, has far outweighed my fear and skepticism for a Trump presidency. As always, reality is more important than feelings. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend. Both Democrats and Republicans need to be honest about Trump. It’s time for a reality check. #ActuallyHeISYourPresident, so let’s take a quick dip into The Good and The Bad of President-Elect Donald Trump.

The Good

Term Limits: This is a good thing that everyone should be getting behind, no matter which side of the aisle you’re on. Career politicians will do anything to keep their seat, only caring to benefit themselves. It is extremely difficult to dislodge an incumbent, with between 80%-90% retaining their position each election. Limiting the number of terms would ensure the true representative of the people was in the seat, and add another check to preventing an oligarchy.

Scale back Economic Regulations: “For every new regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.” This will allow the Free Market to actually function, compared to an Obama regime that regulated the economy to a standstill. He proposes a number of possible policies to lift some of Obama’s stranglehold on the market, and most of them seem plausible. I have the opinion that our current government sucks at almost everything, so these types of policies are particularly exciting for me.

National Security and Constitutional Rule of Law: He proposes Five actions. Cancel all of Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders, fill Scalia’s seat with a Justice who cares about the Constitution, cancel funding to sanctuary cities, remove illegal immigrants, and impose extreme vetting on all people entering our country from terror-prone regions. He has gone back and forth between whether or not he will accept a fence, but this is, of course, not the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wall, a fence, or a crocodile-infested moat. The point is that the illegal crossings of the border get shut down. Important Points: There is nothing for legal immigrants to be concerned about. Preventing another ISIS attack on our soil is more important than maybe hurting the feelings of Muslim immigrants by thoroughly vetting them. Everyone who tries to come here should be thoroughly vetted. If you do not follow the laws for legal immigration to this country, you don’t get to stay. These are not controversial statements. We are a sovereign country. Sovereign countries have laws and borders that must be respected.

Restoring Community Safety Act: More cops lead to less crime. That is basic stuff. Lawmakers shouldn’t be afraid of being called racist, or accused of racially profiling. Reality is reality. Again, stopping the crime is objectively more important than hurting subjective feelings. Stop the crime, improve the communities, businesses will want to open there, which provides jobs and other economic benefits. Would you want to open a business in a city where the store will get robbed, or you’ll get mugged walking back to your car?

School Choice: The public education system in this country is, at best, troubled. I place the blame mainly on tenure and lack of school choice. If teachers can’t be fired, they have no reason to do a good job. If the students have no choice but to attend a particular school, that school has no incentive to perform well. This is why the DMV sucks, you can’t “just go somewhere else,” so why should they care if they give terrible customer service after you’ve waited 3 hours?

The Bad

I’ve already discussed Trump’s character. There are many terrible things to talk about. At the end of the day, a president can still be an effective leader even if he is a terrible person. We have survived this before, the most recent and prominent being Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton. As I’ve also discussed before, Trump is no hero of Conservatism in all his policies. We must be honest about him.

On the books, Trump has only one consistent ideology that I take issue with: his Free Trade Opposition. Trump and Openly-Socialist Bernie Sanders have almost the same position on this. That should tell you something. The solution to foreign competition is not punishing people for going with the competition, the solution is being better than the competition and incentivizing Americans to stay domestic.

My issue with Trump’s policies so far, especially those “hot topics,” is that he is very inconsistent. From little things that don’t matter, Fence vs Wall, to things that really do matter, like what he plans to do with Obamacare. On 60 Minutes last week, Trump said that he would be keeping in the “pre-exisiting conditions” part of Obamacare in his “much better” plan, which he is yet to spell out, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s a major reason that premiums are skyrocketing, and Obamacare is failing. Insurance companies make money because they bet that you are not going to get very sick. You can’t buy fire insurance after your house burns down. A non-smoker has a much lower chance of needing help than the guy who has smoked “a pack a day” for 50 years, so the non-smoker pays significantly less per month. Americans would rather take the penalty, than pay for an over-priced insurance they don’t need.

I said in my last piece that Trump believes nothing, and would say anything to get elected. He shows not only inconsistency in policy promises, but inconsistency in logic. In the interview last week, he said the following two things: that he would appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v Wade, and return abortion laws to the States AND that his position on gay marriage is “irrelevant because it’s already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. It’s done.” Regardless of your position on these topics, you must see that there’s a flaw here. Also, this is a very Leftist way of thinking. “Just the way it is” is only acceptable if it’s something you personally support.

Trump has softened on his three strongest selling points in the primary and general election: He said he would repeal Obamacare, and now he says that he is going to keep the most damaging aspect. He was one of the strongest candidates on illegal immigration, one of the reasons I think he won the primary, and now has pivoted to almost an identical position that he smashed Marco Rubio for in the primaries. He also for the last year has been the candidate of “Lock Her Up” and “the special prosecutor,” and now says that he will not pursue Clinton because she’s “a good person.” Now I understand that this is just politics, and he is trying to bring the sides together, but this was a major part of his campaign. He also hired a lobbyist, Mike Catanzaro, to lead his energy team despite the strong stance he took against lobbyists having a role in government. These are just a few of his flip-flops, and individually they don’t seem like a big deal, but what is coming next?

Final Thoughts

President-Elect Trump hasn’t done anything yet. Almost everything people are overly concerned about is simply based on media-hype and speculation. I have already addressed a few of the biggest issues those on the left have, and here I’d like to address a few more.

I implore all people in the United States to read the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. From those, we need to clarify two important things: what your rights actually are, and what powers the president has. I hear too often from many Americans “WE HAVE A RIGHT TO… (insert thing they don’t have a right to).” Just because you want something, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it. There is a reason we have so vehemently opposed Obama’s overreaches for the last 8 years. The office of the presidency was not intended to have this much power. You supported Obama using the Constitution as toilet paper because you were getting what you want. Did you really think the pendulum wouldn’t swing back?

I won’t speculate on Trump’s potential cabinet picks. As far as his current picks that are causing people to lose their minds: We all need to hope that Reince Priebus has more power than Steve Bannon. I also think it’s important to note that Bannon is not a white supremacist. He’s a nefarious man who has ruined Breitbart News, and panders to the alt-right white supremacists. There is zero evidence that he is one himself, though I know that evidence doesn’t matter to the Left. I mean, how could the Huffington Post be wrong? You should be much more concerned about his economic ideas. In regards to Jeff Sessions: He was prevented from attaining a judgeship in 1986 due to alleged “racist remarks.” His factual track record, however, shows quite the opposite. He desegregated schools in Alabama, and led the prosecution of a KKK leader, who he ensured was executed by the way, which led to a seven-million-dollar civil suit, which broke the Klan in Alabama. So, he might be racist, but he also fiercely battled racism. Refer to what I said earlier about bad people/good leaders. You’re going to draw your own conclusions, but those are the facts.

No, he’s not going to put Muslim citizens on a registry. This is a myth. As we’ve said, he will implement a strong vetting process for those who try to enter the country, or suspend immigration from ISIS affected areas of the world until that vetting system is ready. This will not be a repeat of World War II, on any side, let’s calm down a bit.

Yes, Trump is going to act to remove your ability to murder unborn humans, and he’s certainly going to stop forcing tax payers to fund your convenience killings and your birth control. If Trump is all the horrible things you say he is, and you’re most worried about birth control and abortion, you might want to re-evaluate yourself as a human.

As mentioned above, Trump’s clearly not against gay marriage. All the Mike Pence demonization from the Left is the same stuff they’ve said about every hard-right Christian Republican for the last decade, so no one cares. Trump defends certain Religious Freedom Acts. Religious Freedom is both what allows for same-sex marriage of those who wish to take part AND what forbids forcing Christian businesses to take part. You cannot have one without the other. You don’t have to like it, I don’t have to like it, they don’t have to like it, but that’s the whole point. You have a right to live as you please. You do not have a right to force others to live as you please. Expecting millennia-old religions to completely abandon their doctrine for the sake of your feelings is incredibly selfish. Stop it.

This is nowhere near a complete list, and we are learning more every day, but it is vitally important, for the sake of the country, to be honest about Trump. For Republicans, call him out when he does bad stuff. For Democrats, you need to accept that he’s going to do good stuff. I’ll end on a final word to Liberals: If you’re ready to impeach him over tweets about Hamilton, you won’t be taken seriously when he does something actually terrible. Your volume is turned all the way up, and he hasn’t even stepped into office. It won’t be as bad as you think. I have always been honest about Trump, and will continue to be honest about him. Good and Bad. If he attempts to overreach on power, I will call him on it. If he attempts to take away yours, or any American’s actual rights, I will turn my volume all the way up and fight for you.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke: Subscribe, using the mail icon, and follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

Hillary Clinton is about to take over the White House, backed by her army of social-justice warriors and new-age feminists who stand for Tolerance and Diversity… assuming you totally conform to their beliefs and support every one of their agendas. Should you not bend the knee to them, they will destroy you. We see outspoken Conservatives lose their jobs and have their reputations destroyed, simply because they do not comply with the current acceptable “group think.” We are watching, in real time, the United States slip into an Orwellian nightmare.

The central locations for this borderline-fascist movement are American college campuses. Since the 1960’s, colleges have decided to appease the violent leftist students, rather than combat them. The compromise has been “you stop rioting, we promise to teach about how awful America is, and to further your victim narrative.” Those appeased hippie-rioters are now the leaders of Academia. They are passing the torch of Leftist insanity from generation to generation, seeking to verbally and/or physically bully all those who disagree with their ideals, or lack thereof.

We’ll start with the most important, controversial, offensive tradition of our time: Halloween. Yes, that’s right. The tradition of children dressing up in fun costumes and being allowed to take candy from strangers in recent years, has become more about adults putting on lingerie and having too much to drink. So, upon which aspects of Collegiate Halloween are the social justice warriors focusing? Binge-drinking? Sexual assault? Nope! Not important. The most important travesty to prevent this Halloween is whether a person’s choice of costume is offensive to anyone anywhere ever. Aren’t you glad we’re focused on the important issues?

In 2015, Yale’s “Intercultural Affairs Committee” released a statement telling the students of the University which costumes they should not wear because they could cause offense. Nicholas Christakis, a Yale professor, and his wife Erika, a lecturer in psychology, had the audacity to question the statement’s censoring and controlling implications. What ensued was a campaign of character defamation and public shaming started by a small portion of the “ever-tolerant” Left on campus, simply because they injected a different line of thought into discussion. There is a viral video that shows an exchange between Nicholas and Jerelyn Luther, one of the social justice warriors (hereafter referred to as: SJWs). Jerelyn is seen shrieking at Nicholas, calling him “disgusting,” telling him to “be quiet” when he tries to explain himself, and yelling that “he should not sleep at night” because of what he’s done. She screams “Who the f*ck hired you?!” (Spoiler alert: she did. She was on the hiring committee that brought him to Yale). Both Nicholas and his wife have stepped down at Yale. A celebrated victory for Diversity and Tolerance.

In 2016, NYU Professor Michael Rectenwald was forced to go on “paid leave” after tweeting, from an anonymous account against the ridiculous aspects of the “politically correct” or “outrage” culture. He chose to make the account anonymous due to the reactions he faced, like the Yale professors faced, when he voiced his opinion. In early October, he used his Twitter persona to criticize the recent attempts to “protect students from uncomfortable speech.” After admitting that he was behind the account, he was brought in and told that he was being put on leave because the administration was concerned about his mental health. In an interview with the NY Post, Rectenwald said “They had no reason to believe my mental health was in question, unless having a differing opinion makes you insane.”

The silencing of different opinions does not only apply to the professors of these institutions. They are also in the business of banning Conservative speakers that are brought in by student clubs or associations. North Carolina University banned speakers Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney, DePaul University banned Ben Shapiro, William’s College banned John Derbyshire, Warwick University banned Maryam Namazie, Fordham banned Ann Coulter, Brandeis University banned Ayaan Hirsi Ali… this list goes on… Should, by accident, one of the evil Conservatives make it through the vetting process, they are met with riots, screaming and literal whistle blowing during their presentations, pulling of the fire alarm, and a barring of the doors “red-rover” style so that no one may enter the venue. Just look up UMass’s protesters screaming during Steven Crowder, Milo Yiannopolos, and Christina Hoff’s presentations, or UCLA violently protesting Ben Shapiro. Gone are the days of “I don’t agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

College is supposed to be a preparation for the real world; a place where developing minds are exposed to new ways of thinking that challenge their preconceived notions. Instead, people are entering the post-graduate life having never been exposed to ideas that oppose their own. They’ve spent their entire educational career in an echo chamber of the current leftist agendas. After the banning of a speaker, the university releases a statement that is usually along the lines of “we are concerned for the safety of the students.” So, instead of saying: “Hey Leftists, stop acting like babies,” they cancel events so that they don’t have to expose the students to the danger of different ideas. In the real world, you can’t hide from other people’s ideas in safe spaces, and you don’t get trigger warnings when some words might offend you or cause you to use your brain. The “Thought Police” don’t follow you once you graduate, at least not yet.

This ideology is beginning to become the mainstream thought of our civilized society, from the floors of the presidential debate, to every day conversation, to fiery battles on Facebook. If you don’t comply with the mainstream Leftist thinking, you are labeled as a bad person. Here’s the reason: the Left cannot defeat you on policy or logic alone. They know they can’t fight with facts, so they attack the character of those who don’t agree with them. Illustrating the proven ineffectiveness of Gun Control? You must enjoy that kids are being killed. Have some statistics demonstrating the benefits of a Free Market, or that the Affordable Care Act is both not affordable and is, in fact, imploding? Wow, I didn’t know you hate poor people. Think killing unborn babies is wrong? You’re a misogynist that wants to keep women in the kitchen. Misogynist, Sexist, Homophobe, Transphobe, Xenophobe, and, their most sacrosanct, RACIST. So now, instead of continuing the intelligent political discussion about policy, most people get suckered into defending their character and “checking their privilege.” You must resist this. If you deflect the character attacks, and keep a Leftist on policy, they will lose. Every time.

Millennials have grown up in an era of political correctness and a false sense of self-esteem. Very few of them have parents who force them to grow up. They get to college expecting their professors and all other humans to treat them as the precious snowflakes they are. In psychology, this is referred to as their personal fable. It is an expectation that you are the hero of every story, and that the world should treat you as such. This term was coined by David Elkind, referring to the egocentrism of early adolescents. Unfortunately, in modern-day America, that period of adolescence now spans until you’re about 30.

Besides being a right guaranteed by the Constitution, Free Speech is one of the factors that makes America the greatest country in the world. We don’t get to outlaw speech that we don’t like, we think is mean, or that offends us. The Left, the Right, the Social Justice Warriors, the shrieking Feminist harpies, the KKK, the alt-right, Black Lives Matter rioters, the American Nazi Party, the Communists, and every other group should be allowed to say whatever they want. I don’t want racist speech to be illegal, I want the racists to out themselves so that they can be properly challenged and defeated. Allowing the government, or anyone else, to decide which speech is “hate speech,” or which speech should or should not be allowed, leads the country down a very dangerous path. Being offended or triggered is completely subjective. This piece of writing will probably be hated by some people. Does this mean that because my words could hurt some feelings, they should be illegal or shut down completely?

The Left’s agenda of shutting down free speech is slowly, but surely, taking over the landscape of the country. What are we to do? The answer is that we fight. To quote the currently reigning Leftist, we need to “punch back twice as hard.” We know what these bullies do and how they do it, and we need to fight them. As is the case with the school yard bully, the Left is weakened when they are stood up to. We cannot be afraid of the names that we will be called for standing up for our beliefs. We need to speak the truth, regardless of whether or not that truth is popular. We cannot let the Left silence us. Ronald Reagan said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” We must not allow this generation to be the one that concedes our freedom.

Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke: Subscribe, using the mail icon, and follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

Welcome to Election 2016. Clowns are on the loose. Two of them are the front runners to be the President of the United States. We The People are faced with one candidate who is a corrupt, pandering, big-government loving, anti-constitutional, compulsively lying Leftist and another candidate who is… a corrupt, pandering, big-government loving, anti-constitutional, compulsively lying Leftist. Well done, everyone!

Being a borderline Libertarian Conservative, I knew that I had lost this election the second Donald J. Trump was officially declared the nominee for the Republican Party. I went through a short period of mourning and when I regained consciousness, began to look at the decision that has to be made. As much as we don’t like any of the options, a decision must be made by November 8th. For anyone on the Right, the decision not to vote Trump is not one that should be made casually.

I will admit that while I was not always #NeverTrump, I never liked the idea of voting for this man. I respected, and still do respect, the idea that we need to vote for Trump to stop Hillary. I get it. Seriously. Every time Clinton revealed a new policy plan, shamelessly pandered, or openly lied to our faces, my thoughts were usually along the lines of “God help me, I’m going to have to vote for Trump.”

The “lesser of two evils” argument is being utilized by both sides, both to defend their own sense of morality, and convince those on the fence to finally pick a side. The issue with this argument is that it is being used with the same acquiescence as it has been used in the past. In previous elections, this has been a logically sound argument. Look at McCain v Obama: neither candidate was ideal, but we could, and we did, morally justify voting for one of them as the “lesser of two evils.” However, in this election, both candidates are genuinely evil. Voting for the “lesser of two evils,” in this case, is like asking if you’d like to have your head chopped off with an axe or a sword. Is one better? Maybe.

Even if we just look at policy, it is still not a “no-brainer” to vote for Trump. There is no question that as a whole, most Conservatives side with Trump’s policies, myself included. Here’s the problem: I don’t believe that he believes any of it. I think he is told what to believe, and this is why he’s so inconsistent. Take, for example, his positions on “No Fly, No Buy” and government mandated family-leave. These are true “no-brainers.” You cannot take away someone’s basic constitutional rights when they haven’t been given due process. This is basic stuff if you’ve read the Constitution even once. He also supports a policy by which all businesses must give paid family leave to all employees. This is, again, basic stuff. Even if you think that all businesses should provide this, which I do, the federal government simply does not have the power to force them to do so. Does this nullify all of his other policies that are clearly better than Hillary’s? Of course not. However, contrary to “Breitbartian” belief, Trump is not the great savior of the Conservative movement.

My biggest issues with this entire election cycle is not with Trump. We knew who he was going in. My issue is with conservatives who are changing their own fundamental belief systems in order to fit Trump’s mold. From my peers, to Breitbart News, up to Sean Hannity, people are claiming they believe in, and have always believed in, things they were vehemently against before Trump showed up. These are the same people who are perpetuating the delusion that Trump is only losing because of people like me who will not “bend the knee.” Trump is losing for one reason: he is a terrible candidate. Don’t get me wrong, I understand their position. It is a very difficult thing to say you are voting for someone with whom you disagree or don’t like. I understand it, but certainly don’t agree with it. You can vote for Trump to stop Hillary AND still tell the truth about him.

While the Left is, of course, blowing most of Trump’s scandals way out of proportion, we can’t have an honest conversation about Trump without talking about his character. The world is so numb to the Left calling the Republican Candidate names, that when faced with a time that they’re actually correct in their name calling, nobody cares. Think of it as the boy who cried bigot. It is wrong to lie about Trump’s Conservatism, and it is wrong to lie about Trump being a great dude. He is not. Just to name a few: mocking the disabled reporter, his attacks on the Mexican judge, and the latest sexual assault claims. These are completely unacceptable for any human, not to mention a presidential candidate. Something I do respect about Trump is that he truly is a much deserved slap in the face to political correctness. As with most things in his campaign, it’s the right message being delivered by the wrong messenger. He sits right on the line of being politically incorrect and being, for lack of a better word, a jerk. One must be able to distinguish between the two. Since they know they can’t win on policy, the Left turns every election into a battle of which candidate is a better person than the other. This distracts from the things that really matter when selecting a President.

We all know how terrible a Hillary Clinton presidency will be. 4-8 more years of Obama without the charm. 4-8 more years of despicable government expansion on individual liberty. 4-8 more years of allowing the Middle East to go up in flames. 4-8 more years of not supporting our police. 4-8 more years of being called a sexist when we don’t agree with a policy… the list goes on. A president, House, Senate, and Supreme Court that are all the most heinous Leftists will lead a never-ending tirade against your rights, starting with the First, Second, and Fifth Amendments. It will be a true low-point for our country, and will not be easily fixed.

We don’t know what a Trump presidency will be. It could be everything we hope for, or it could be a catastrophic disaster. Nothing that Trump has done over the course of this campaign has led me to believe that he will stay true to his word regarding anything, let alone the Supreme Court. Donald Trump cares about one thing, and one thing only: Donald Trump. As I’ve said, I think the dream perpetuated by the Trump Train that this will be a high point of Conservatism in our history is just a dream. Neither of these presidencies is going to be a great time for our country.

As I’ve said, I understand feeling that you need to vote Trump to stop Hillary. It is a valid argument, and at the end of the day, I think many #NeverTrump-ers are going to do just that. Here is what it boils down to for me if you are on the Right: If you really think that a Hillary presidency will drastically change the political landscape of this country in a way that is completely devastating and unamendable, then you have to vote for Trump and hope he surrounds himself with people who have a clue. If you think that her presidency will be terrible, but we can rebuild and bounce back with a stronger, truly Conservative (or maybe just not total garbage) candidate in 2020, then vote your conscience. Vote for Evan McMullin, or just skip that box. Do not stay home. We have more to lose than just the presidency.

“If you sacrifice your principle for the sake of victory, you’ll find you have neither.”

Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison

Editor-In-Chief

Luke Garrison is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School. Luke enjoys talking politics and triggering Social-Justice-Warriors while consuming dark beer and the occasional cigar.

Managing Editor

Step Into The Right's Managing Editor remains anonymous for professional purposes. Another victory of the Tolerant and Diverse Left. They are currently earning their Doctorate in American History, and are a Professor of History, Economics, and Government. They are also super attractive. We promise.

Contributors

-Ciaran Bruen is a graduate of Binghamton University, and is now pursuing his MBA. After interning on Capitol Hill, Ciaran worked for the New York State Government and worked on various Campaigns. When not working or studying, he enjoys playing golf and debating Leftists
-Joe Lizardi is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A former intern for British Parliament, he is currently studying International Law at Pace University Law School. ​His hobbies
include studying law and politics, developing his eccentric taste in music, and mocking the sour disposition of regressive leftists.

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